Reunited in the Heart of America: A Soldier's Journey Back Home Lucas stepped down off the bus as he shouldered his rucksack; At 6' 2" he was tall and well built, his desert-tanned skin, various scars and short crew-cut hair made him immediatly intimidating to people he met, but he was gentle at heart and glad to be home after so long. It'd been a long trip back to his home in the small town of Lakersville, Chicago But as he reflected, it had been an even longer trip to get back to the States having spent the last four years taking cover in a filthy fox-hole in another dusty heap of sand called a country. He walked through the old town for a while, checking out the old sights; The school he'd grown up in, the small house his mother had raised him and 8 other kids in. His final stop stirred up the last memories before he had shipped off to boot camp.... It had been four and a half years before, and he's been fresh out of high school, young, eager to make a name for himself. He'd planned to go on a booze-up with some pals before they all shipped off, but that was before he had met maria; She still had two years to go in high school and he hadnt noticed her much before that night. She was from a wealthier family and as such, traveled with the more elite crowd, She was a heavy set girl, well developed even at that young age, and always wore the latest fashions her Daddy bought her. But that night they had met at a small bar while he'd been waiting on his friends and had ended up spending the night under the bleachers back at school. He'd never told her he was shipping off the next day. …but everything was about to change
